Runaway Love
by i.death-chan
Summary: After a huge heartbreak, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino mysteriously disappear. A couple years later, they come back and bring a huge surprise with them – whole new personalities, abilities, and… kids? [SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina]
1. Walk Away

Well… you voted, I wrote.

I hope everyone likes this as they liked my other stories…

Okay, for this story, when I say misunderstandings, I really mean misunderstandings. But they're **not **what they look like. I swear.

-

**Summary**: After a huge heartbreak, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino mysteriously disappear. A couple years later, they come back and bring a huge surprise with them – whole new personalities, abilities, and… kids? SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina

**Rating**: T (PG-13)

**Genre**: Romance/Drama

Standard Disclaimer applied.

-

**Chapter 1: Walk Away**

-

-

-

_Drip._

Another step forward, another tear shed.

_Drip. Drip._

This time, two tears fell to the flat ground.

_Drip._

Her eyes, a shade of dark green in the night, stared straight ahead; her facial expression did not suit the tears falling down her pale skin. _'I may… I may never come back to this place again.'_

_Drip._

Haruno Sakura was leaving.

_'I guess… I was just never too good enough for you, Sasuke-kun.'_

She wasn't on a mission, she wasn't on a special assignment… she was leaving... for real.

Her sandaled feet stopped when she got to the gates and her eyes widened in slight surprise. "What… what are you guys doing here?"

The blonde looked up at her, her usually dancing blue eyes hollow. "No, Sakura… what are _you _doing here?"

"Tenten… Hinata… what are you doing?"

They looked like they were prepared for a voyage too. Simple, light packs and travel clothes.

"I… I… N-Naruto…kun…" Hinata whispered as more tears streaked down her face. Then... Sakura realized and she wrapped her slender arms around the Hyuuga heiress, the most fragile of the four, in a comforting hug.

"You're… running away too, aren't you…?" Sakura whispered, feeling everyone's pain.

Tenten forced a relieved smile. "So… you aren't here to stop us?"

The pink-haired teen shook her head. "I guess I won't be leaving alone… What happened to you guys?"

None of them seemed willing to share their tragedy.

Then, Ino sighed in a resigned way. "I guess… it's better if I got this off my chest…"

-

_"Shikamaru!" Ino called for the pineapple-haired Nara genius._

_Swatting away the branches of the pine tree impatiently, she made her way to Shikamaru's cloudgazing spot._

_Yes, Nara Shikamaru had his own spot for cloudgazing. _

_"Shikamaru!" Ino called again. She needed to tell him… now! Who knew what the consequences could be?_

_"Shika-"_

_A high-pitched, falsetto giggle came from the spot where Shikamaru's sacred place was._

_Quickly lowering her chakra levels so she could go by undetected, she carefully hid behind a bush and looked._

_What she saw broke her heart._

_It was a girl._

_She looked Shikamaru's age, with wavy blonde hair that reached mid-thigh, with sultry, amber eyes. _

'Slut,' _Ino thought disgustedly._

_But why was she with Shikamaru…? Sitting in his favorite spot on the grass… clutching at his left arm… her head on the upper part of his arm…_

_She felt like crying._

_What a slut._

_But she realized that she was as much of a slut as the mysterious girl seductively giggling at Shikamaru. After all, they… _

_She turned her back and tried to hold her tears in as she ran on her heels._

-

"Ino-chan…" Sakura murmured. "I'm… sorry…"

"That was b-brave of you to t-tell what y-you s-saw…" Hinata said softly. "I-I'll tell you what happened to m-me…"

Sakura gave Hinata a faint smile. Even if her stuttering habit was still there, Hinata could be real brave sometimes.

Hinata took a shaky breath and started.

-

_Hyuuga Hinata slid past the numerous people walking down the many streets of Konoha._

_She had one destination: Ichiraku Ramen._

_She needed to look for Naruto. She needed to tell him… She knew it wasn't his fault… but… _

_There – an orange and black jacket and Konoha forehead protector._

_But who was the person he was sharing ramen with?_

_Whoa, wait. Back up. _Sharing ramen?!

_In her 17 years of living, Hyuuga Hinata had _neverever _seen Uzumaki Naruto _sharing _ramen with…_

_A girl._

_Hinata felt something stab at her heart as the girl beside Naruto giggled flirtatiously. _'Naruto-kun… was I not too good enough?'

_Even if Hinata could only see their backs, she could tell the girl sitting with Naruto was pretty. _

_Prettier than her._

_Shoulder-length auburn hair, brightly colored, manicured nails, and an expensive-looking outfit for royalty. _

_The girl was laughing like there was no end of the world – at one of Naruto-kun's numerous funny quips, Hinata bet. _

_She felt something tug at her throat and she tried hard to quell the sobs rising in her chest. _

_Turning around with all hopes of a happy ending gone, Hyuuga Hinata went home._

_To pack._

'Maybe you'll be happier without me, Naruto-kun.'

-

Hinata bit her lip, thinking her friends were going to call her weak.

"Hinata-chan…" Sakura said quietly. "You were strong. You didn't cry when you saw..."

Hinata sniffed. Crying was a sign of weakness. A proper kunoichi should keep a stony countenance through everything.

Even if it was getting her heart broken by Uzumaki Naruto.

A hand was placed on her shoulder.

Hinata looked up, and saw Tenten, smiling sadly. "It's okay to cry, Hinata… It's okay…"

Hinata nodded as the salty liquid flowed freely, playing tag with each other down her pale cheeks.

"I guess it's my turn to share now, huh?" Tenten said aloud.

-

_Tenten tapped her foot impatiently as she absentmindedly twirled a kunai on her index finger. _

_Neji was late._

_Her brows creased in confusion. Neji was _never _late. It was usually her that was always making an excuse for being late._

_But today was flipped. Tenten was the early (or on time) one and Neji was nowhere to be seen, or heard._

_The corners of her lips quirked down into a slight scowl. Where was Neji? She needed to tell him… _

_She heard a giggle._

_Letting her curiosity getting the better of her, she made her way through the many trees and bushes; she knew this place, like the back of her hand. In her spare time, she had explored the forest in hopes of better training grounds._

_Then she saw it._

_Hyuuga Neji was hugging a girl. _

_She couldn't see their faces but she could see the Hyuuga prodigy's back as he hugged some random girl._

_Judging from how the girl's long, chestnut hair flowed to the ground, Tenten could tell the girl was definitely a looker._

_Tenten didn't know that Neji preferred good-looking girls._

_The kunai stopped twirling, as her vision grew blurry from unshed tears. _'I thought he… I thought he…'

'No,' _a nasty voice in her head told her. _'He wasn't himself. You saw for yourself.'

'But he said it himself!' _A tear slid, slowly and gracefully, down her cheeks and past the quivering lip._

'Did you think he really meant it?'

_Turning her back, she ran, leaving behind the horrible sight, the nasty little voice of truth, and… her heart._

-

"I'm… I'm so sorry, Tenten-chan…" Hinata whispered.

"I thought _I _had it easy," Ino murmured softly.

Sakura smiled sadly. "You guys have been though so much… it really pains me to see my best friends like this…"

"What about you?" Tenten asked. "You need to have some reason for… walking away."

Sakura's sad smile warped into a bitter one. "Oh, yes… you see…"

-

_Sakura slid past the wooden gates of the Uchiha compound. _

_Finally, she could tell him… but would he believe her? After all, she was unconscious, and he was… possessed._

'Well Sasuke-kun… I guess your goals are accomplished without you even knowing it.'

_She had gotten out of the hospital five minutes ago, so her chakra was almost gone. Sasuke would not notice her due to her low chakra levels, so she decided to try to surprise him._

_Sakura turned left at an intersection. She knew the whole place well – after all, when Sasuke was on probation, she was the one, with Team 7, that watched over him. _

_She opened the door to Sasuke's room, opened her mouth to say his name, when… _

_She saw him and the girl._

_He was… on top of… a girl._

**'I never knew Sasuke-kun was more attracted to prettier girls,'** _Inner Sakura mused miserably. _

_Sasuke was straddling someone's stomach, and was pinning her arms to his bed. His head was lowered and his hair was covering his face, but Sakura could tell they had been getting… um… busy._

_The female had long, purple hair and twinkling turquoise eyes. She was scantily clad and seemed to be staring at Sasuke with unmistakable lust in her eyes._

_Sakura vaguely noticed that the stranger had an average-sized forehead._

_Sakura, forgetting for a moment she was invisible to them, gasped._

_Sasuke immediately looked up and his dark eyes widened a fraction. "S-Sakura!"_

_She knew that her eyes were probably glassy from her tears, bowed so she could conceal her watery eyes. "A-ah, S-Sasuke-kun… I'm sorry… for… interrupting… I'll be going now…"_

_She spun on her back with the most grace she could muster as a kunoichi at the moment. _

_"Finally!" She heard as she left the hall. Typical female model voice, she mused. Perfectly pitched falsetto, oozing with honey. "Who was she? What a wide forehead!"_

_"Shut up," Sasuke's voice came from the room. _

_"Sasuke-kunnnn…"_

'Yes,' _Sakura thought bitterly. _'Just shut up and get back to what we were doing, huh?'

-

"I never thought Sasuke had the balls to do that," Ino offered at a horrible attempt at humor.

"I guess we're all the same, huh?" Sakura mused. "But… guys… what were you trying to tell the guys?"

Hinata looked away in what looked like shame, Tenten grimaced, and Ino turned paler than her normal skin tone.

"I… you remember that party Konoha threw for the new Jounins?" Tenten asked.

"Of course," Sakura said. This was how she had… "It was thrown for us."

"Well, you know how the guys drank too much sake and… we took them home?"

"Hold it," Sakura said slowly. "You guys are…"

Ino nodded miserably. "I shouldn't have let lust gotten the better of me…"

"Yes," Hinata agreed softly. "I was just… overwhelmed by… Naruto-kun…"

Tenten nodded as well, seemingly drowning in her guilt.

"You're lucky…" Sakura smiled sadly. "I got knocked out…"

"_What?!_" Ino hissed. "What do you mean?!"

"I… he… he was overwhelmed by the curse seal," Sakura's green eyes lowered to the ground. "And… he knocked me out."

"It's… It's… I shouldn't h-have b-believed h-him…" Hinata wept. "He… He t-told me he… l-loved m-me…"

"Ditto," Tenten said morosely.

"We were all fooled," Ino said bitterly.

"Well… leaving… I don't feel bad at all," Sakura admitted. "I just feel… empty."

"Yes," Tenten agreed slowly. "Well then ladies… ready to become runaways?"

Sakura picked up her pack as the others followed suit.

As the four walked out of the village of Konohagakure, Sakura started singing softly.

_I saw you with your new girl just yesterday _

_and I feel that I must confess_

_Even though it kills me to have to say_

_I'll admit that I was impressed_

Ino joined in with an equally sweet voice. As tears rolled down the blonde's cheeks, her lips never stopped moving to the song.

_Is it calling just showed up affection_

_gotta commend you on your selection_

_Though I know I shouldn't be concerned_

_in the back of my mind I can't help but question_

Tenten, staring straight ahead, also moved her lips in motion for the song. Her full, strong voice made a perfect harmony with Sakura's and Ino's.

_Does she rub your feet when you've had a long day_

_Scratch your scalp when you take you your braids_

_Does she know that you like to play PS2 till 6 in the morning like I do_

The three already singing stopped for a moment to look at the shortest teen. Their somber, hollow eyes all seemed to be asking one thing.

_'Will you sing with us?'_

Hinata nodded slightly and opened her mouth to start the chorus.

_I can't explain this feeling_

Hinata's soft voice became stronger and stronger as the four voices became a melody for anyone's ears in range.

_I think about it everyday_

_And even though we've moved on_

_it gets so hard to walk away_

_Walk away, walk away_

_Walk away…_

As the last note faded into the air, Sakura looked back at the bright lights of her (former) home once more.

_'Sasuke… Even though it's not me… I hope you're happy. Walking away is hard for me… every one of uss. But… please… be happy… with whomever it is.'_

-

-

Tsunade stared at the four teenagers in front of her.

Naruto was up front, with a furious expression. Shikamaru looked unusually alert and interested in something other than the sky, and both the Hyuuga and Uchiha prodigies looked a little more angry than impassive.

"I want to go look for them, now!" Naruto demanded.

Tsunade looked at the four. "Guys, it's nighttime… and the girls must have a plausible reason to just leave."

"You can't just do that!" the Kyuubi jinchuuriki howled. "They're kunoichi of Konoha!"

"They're missing-nin now if they leave voluntarily," Tsunade said calmly although her heart was aching.

_'Sakura… why?'_

"You have no proof they're missing-nin," Neji said stubbornly.

Tsunade pointed to the crumpled piece of paper in each of they boys' hands. "I believe they left _those_. That is enough proof. And even if I send ninja after them, they won't be you four. You'll just let your emotions get in the way. I'll send ANBU after them tomorrow morning, at dawn if that will shut you up."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retaliate, but Naruto beat him to it.

"NO!" Naruto roared. "_I _WANT TO GO AFTER THEM! IF YOU WON'T LET ME, IF… If… you won't let me… I'll become a missing-nin myself to look for them..."

"You are in no position to do that, Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade said harshly. "Maybe it's what _you _did that made them leave."

The loudmouth fell silent.

But not everyone was.

A faint sound filled the air. Was it… singing?

_I saw you with your new girl just yesterday_

_and I feel that I must confess_

_Even though it kills me to have to say _

_I'll admit that I was impressed_

It was a single voice, but was sweet and sad at the same time. It was soft but drew the listeners to crave more. It was…

"Sakura," Sasuke muttered.

Another voice joined in, this was more loud and bold. It was sweet, like the first voice, but it had a certain air of confidence that the first one didn't have.

"Ino," Shikamaru looked a little more than pained.

_Is it calling just showed up affection_

_gotta commend you on your selection_

_Though I know I shouldn't be concerned_

_in the back of my mind I can't help but question_

Another voice joined in. It had a slightly lower pitch, but its slightly husky yet alluring voice gave Neji a heartache.

_'Tenten…' _Everyone in the room could see Neji's inward pain.

_Does she rub your feet when you've had a long day_

_Scratch your scalp when you take you your braids_

_Does she know that you like to play PS2 till 6 in the morning like I do_

Then, there was a little pause. But, as they say, the show must go on. A new voice joined the chorus. It was not very distinct, but it got louder and more confident.

Naruto bit his lip. "Hinata…" Unusual. She usually stuttered and fumbled over every sentence, but when she sang… softest out of everyone but most emotion, after maybe Sakura's singing voice.

_I think about it everyday_

_And even though we've moved on_

_it gets so hard to walk away_

_Walk away, walk away_

_Walk away…_

The last note drifted off somewhere.

"Naruto," Tsunade said softly, as if worrying that her usually loud, commanding voice would break the blonde teen's heart. "I don't think I'll be sending anyone after them…"

"Why not?" Naruto whispered.

"Yes," Shikamaru, ever the tactician, spoke up. "Even if they're not the type to betray Konoha's secrets to everyone else, we, as shinobi of Konoha, have a job to keep."

The blonde woman smiled sadly. Yes, she understood everything. Why they sang the song, why they had been so sick lately, why they had left…

After all, she _was _the Godaime Hokage. She could add two and two together.

"Let's just say… they're suffering from a disease," Tsunade said quietly. "And I've given them permission to… take a break."

She knew she wasn't telling the whole truth, but the girls needed to… recuperate. _'Oh Sakura, if only I had known sooner…'_

"What would that disease be?" Sasuke asked roughly. "For them to…"

"Suffer." Neji finished. For once, the Hyuuga and Uchiha were working together. How odd.

_'What do those girls mean to you?' _

"A very common disease." Tsunade said calmly. "Although many experience it, there are varying levels of the disease. The girls… seem to have the worst case I have seen in my whole life."

"What's the name of the disease?" Almost all four boys spoke up in unison.

"It's called… heartbreak."

The Nara's eyebrows furrowed as his mind was racing. When… heartbreak?

Oh...

Every other male seemed to have realized the truth. Their missions, and the girls had seen…

But now, they knew, it was too late. Each boy's hand, the ones with the papers the girls had written, clenched and the neatly written _Goodbye_'swas crunched up with each boy's hope.

-

_A simple misunderstanding._

_Four broken runaways._

_Four males in denial._

_Hearts broken, tears shed… will this vicious cycle even end?_

-

-

-

So… this is Runaway Love chapter one… I hope the first chapter wasn't a big failure…

Next chapter will be after 6 years. And, it'll have what really happened. So don't think this is like, a love triangle, I feel as if love triangles aren't really necessary in this story. And because if I put triangles in this story, it'll probably ruin the whole thing.

Um… Father Figure is next, and I'll probably have the first chapter up in a couple of weeks… or sooner. No guarantees.

Well, hope you enjoyed it!


	2. Reunion Confusion

Um… hi… again.

This chapter starts in Konoha, with the guys, 6 years after, so don't get all confused about the peoples' ages. Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata are 23 and Tenten and Neji are 24. Kind of old, but I'm not that good at time management.

**Mate-of-Sesshy**: I got your PM, and yeah, you can say Sasuke raped Sakura. She wasn't conscious when it all happened. Um… Sakura has a sister?

**Sapphire Serenity**: Um… I'm sorry? Did you hate it? Anyway, technically the girls have messed up lives so it's pretty easy for them to leave their family, friends, and loves behind after a huge heartbreak – I mean, Sasuke was "fucking" a girl! Seriously, if I were in Sakura's place, I would've killed him on the spot. I don't like portraying the girls as weak, defenseless, and hopelessly in love – must be the feminist in me, sorry if you don't like it. And family – Hinata's dad like, "hates" her, Tenten doesn't know her parents, Sakura's parents are dead (Sorry, I think it's just easy to kill off her parents), and Ino's… well… we don't hear much from them. And the singing… I'm sorry. Really. It's just that every time I try to convey my feelings through the way I'm doing now, I always sound pissed. I don't know why. See, I'm really influenced by the music I like (three out of my four stories' titles are songs…) and I couldn't resist letting the girls show off their singing skills. The guys didn't go after the girls because Tsunade told them not to. I know it's not like them but they're matured, even Naruto. So… yeah. At least you liked the mission idea. Damn, that was mad long. 216 words!

**kittygoesmeow**: Well, the guys don't know about the children because they were inebriated… but won't Sasuke be happy? His clan's restored… kind of.

**Dakotarox14**: I tugged on your heartstrings? –wails- I'm so sorry!!! I almost killed you!!! But I'll continue writing, just for you! ;)

**furryhatlover2543**: Seduction missions? Close. They _were _missions, but not seduction. Don't worry, they're not cheating.

**HPBabe91**: Aw… don't hate Sasuke-kun!!! Technically, he wasn't doing _it _with the person…

**Angst lover**: Good! I encourage you to write your own stories! You probably have some sort of unknown talent for writing, and then you'll get better than me, and then you'll stop reading my stories. Oh well, as long as you're happy.

**lolsuzie**: Um… I'm sorry about your food? Some of the lyrics are wrong? Sorry, this is why I don't trust the Internet that much…

Thank you **passion244, ****Little Minamino**, **Kunoichi142**, **Inuko-Sama**, **yumi hasegawa**, **NanabiHimura**, **SakuraGaara**, **Shinkutsuki**, **Spelbound**, **romancelvr**, **xDiz azn ShortieZx**, **SweetKisses9**, **InuyashaLover167**, **Kurenai Chinoumi**, **Icecream Skittles Addict**, **XxHotBloodySirenxX**, **ninja-kyoko**, **Tema-chan**, **Go-Go Girly**, **berry smoothie**, **cutegerbilofdeath**, **Kaydreams**, **BuBbLe GuM cHeRrY**, **Claud-kun**, **crescent moon at midnight**, **Xxfirefoxxx**, **sakuraharuno-cherryblossom**, **KunoichiruleALL**, **Moongoddess97**, **it'sher**, **Anime Angel Goddess**, **CherryBlossoms016**, **FrozenFyre**, **Mind Walking Rabid Squirrel**, **Blackblossom93**, **GaaraLovesSakura**, **pinky101**, **L.N.R.star**, **yourdarkdesire**, **FallenGirl-04**, **NarutoXHinataPie**, and **Narutojr**. Like I said before, if I forgot you, I'm sorry. Okay? Don't chase me down the street with a spork.

-

**R u n a w a y L o v e**

**Summary**: After a huge heartbreak, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino mysteriously disappear. A couple years later, they come back and bring a huge surprise with them – whole new personalities, abilities, and… kids? SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina

**Rating**: T (PG-13)

**Genre**: Romance/Drama

Standard Disclaimer applied.

-

**Chapter 2: Reunion Confusion**

-

_Last time on Runaway Love:_

_"Naruto," Tsunade said softly, as if worrying that her usually loud, commanding voice would break the blonde teen's heart. "I don't think I'll be sending anyone after them…"_

_"Why not?" Naruto whispered. _

_"Yes," Shikamaru, ever the tactician, spoke up. "Even if they're not the type to betray Konoha's secrets to everyone else, we, as shinobi of Konoha, have a job to keep."_

_The blonde woman smiled sadly. Yes, she understood everything. Why they sang the song, why they had been so sick lately, why they had left…_

_After all, she _was_ the Godaime Hokage. She could add two and two together._

_"Let's just say… they're suffering from a disease," Tsunade said quietly. "And I've given them permission to… take a break."_

_She knew she wasn't telling the whole truth, but the girls needed to… recuperate. _'Oh Sakura, if only I had known sooner…'

_"What would that disease be?" Sasuke asked roughly. "For them to…"_

_"Suffer." Neji finished. For once, the Hyuuga and Uchiha were working together. How odd. _

'What do those girls mean to you?'

_"A very common disease." Tsunade said calmly. "Although many experience it, there are varying levels of the disease. The girls… seem to have the worst case I have seen in my whole life."_

_"What's the name of the disease?" Almost all four boys spoke up in unison._

_"It's called… heartbreak."_

_The Nara's eyebrows furrowed as his mind was racing. When… oh, my._

_Every other male seemed to have realized the truth. Their missions, and the girls had seen…_

_But now, they knew, it was too late._

-

-

-

Uchiha Sasuke stared at the four walls surrounding him.

His house had never seemed so empty and silent before.

Usually, a certain pink-haired kunoichi would have been pestering him to eat breakfast (she, as a medic, had thought breakfast was important for him), then he would go out and spar with her. Then the dobe would appear out of nowhere, and then _she _would punch him and scold him for jumping on her from out of nowhere.

But _she _was missing.

"Sasuke-teme."

He turned to the 23-year old ANBU, the Godaime's successor. Unlike the other 364 days of the year, Uzumaki Naruto's eyes were strangely hollow and sorrowful.

"You remembered too?" Naruto picked up a certain picture frame, one with three genins in it, and gently blew the dust off.

"Of course," Sasuke muttered, averting his eyes from the 12-year old Team 7.

Today was the day Konoha had lost four of its most valuable kunoichi.

"Tsunade-baachan wants us," Naruto said softly. "To check out some explosion near the borders of Konoha."

Sasuke's eyes lowered. "Aa, I'll be there…"

Naruto gave him a curt nod before jumping out of his rather large window.

Sasuke stared at the picture frame once more, at a grinning Sakura.

_'Sakura… where are you right now?'_

-

_Uchiha Sasuke lived off the missions given to him. _

_Assassination missions, spying missions, interrogating missions, rescue missions, suicide missions, heck, even scroll retrieving missions! Throw one at him and he'd complete it perfectly._

_But a babysitting mission was a different story._

_He had protested, but the stupid girl's father was some important politician that had meetings so _he_, the great Uchiha Sasuke, the one that had killed one of the three legendary sannin and had killed Uchiha Itachi, had to _baby-sit _a fangirl._

_So he had put up with the stupid slut's idiocy and when the mission was finally over, he had gone home to rest._

_But when he got home, and entered his room, someone jumped on top of him. Because of his shinobi reflexes, he immediately switched their positions so that he was straddling her stomach and pinning her arms above her head. He was about to take out a kunai to slit the person's throat when – _

_He realized it was the stupid client from earlier. _

_He opened his mouth to growl at her when a gasp broke him out of his violent thoughts._

_Sasuke immediately looked up and his dark eyes widened a fraction. "S-Sakura!"_

_He saw that her eyes were glassy from her tears, and saw her bow so she could conceal her watery eyes. "A-ah, S-Sasuke-kun… I'm sorry… for… interrupting… I'll be going now…"_

_She spun on her back with the most grace she could muster as a kunoichi at the moment. _

_"Finally!" The girl he almost attacked spoke as if Sakura had interrupted her wedding or something. "Who was she? What a wide forehead!"_

_"Shut up," Sasuke said coldly. Now what would Sakura think of him? _

_"Sasuke-kunnnn…"she whined in protest as he stared at the girl in disgust. _

-

"Dammit!" Sasuke swore aloud, clenching his fists. "Why?"

-

'_Why? Why, Sakura?'_

-

-

_Naruto stared, loathingly, at the female next to him. Sure, she was pretty and all, but she wasn't his type. She was a…_

_He shuddered inwardly._

_A fangirl._

_(Damn all those creatures to hell.)_

_He, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji had a mission to, as Sasuke called it disdainfully, "baby-sit." They were all daughters of important and powerful politicians, and they were all fangirls that drooled all over them the second they made eye contact._

_So headstrong Uzumaki Naruto had to let the clingy girl follow him all around Konoha._

_Finally, Naruto and his client arrived at Ichiraku. When his miso ramen had come out, she had demanded for him to feed her the ramen._

_In other words, she wanted _him, _Uzumaki Naruto, 6th Hokage, to _share ramen _with _her.

_When he had vehemently refused, she nearly threw a temper tantrum, even resorting to crying (and it was a pitiful attempt). Because he was getting paid, he had no choice to feed her. Minutes later, he was just sitting there while the auburn-haired slut was stealing _his _ramen, talking nonsense._

_Seriously, why wouldn't she shut up? Why wouldn't she just drop dead? Why was the day going past so slowly?_

_Why did he feel uneasy?_

_That night, when Hinata was gone, he would find out why he was feeling so uncomfortable._

-

Naruto's still blue eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch but he continued running to where he was supposed to investigate with Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru. _'Why? Dammit, Hinata, why?'_

-

-

Hyuuga Neji, 24 years old, ANBU extraordinaire, Hyuuga prodigy.

Unmarried.

He was next on line for taking over the Hyuuga house because Hinata was gong and Hanabi had refused to be next clan leader. But because he wasn't married, the clan would go off to some distant cousin of Hanabi's.

People kept asking him why he couldn't just go get a wife and unite the main and branch families of the Hyuuga clan. After all, it was one of his ambitions. But Neji took marriage seriously, and told everyone he wouldn't marry, that he was waiting for someone. That was what Sasuke, Naruto, and Shikamaru had also admitted.

So why did they have to keep waiting?

Neji pursed his lips into a thin line, running past the gates of Konoha. _'Why…?'_

-

_'Why… Tenten?'_

-

_One of Neji's few hobbies was sparring._

_He loved to test his battle skills, he lived to hear the sound of weapons clashing against each other in a friendly math, and his favorite sight was the training area, which showed the work of hardworking ninjas, eager to prove themselves._

_But when he was asked to teach the daughter of some idiot politician how to spar, he refused. This girl was merely some skank fangirl that only would spend the rest of the day clinging onto him, demanding his undivided attention. _

_Alas, he had no choice since he had to keep his mission records – 99 percent of the time successful. _

_He got very, _very_ pissed at her when she kept altering the grip on her kunai so that he had to hold her hand to readjust her grip. _

_"I still don't get it," the girl whined. _

_Growling, he came behind her grabbed her arm roughly, and readjusted her position and grip once again. "Do it right this time or I'll just sew your fingers to the kunai with my chakra strings." He had no time, nor patience for her impudence. _

_She giggled._

_Yes indeed, he had half a mind to just tie her to a tree with his chakra strings so she'd leave him alone while he'd go over to the other training area and vent his anger out on the training dummies._

_Wait… wasn't today one of the days he and Tenten trained?_

_Shit._

-

-

Genius.

Nara Shikamaru was supposedly a genius with an IQ of over 200.

The first time he took the chuunin exams, he was the only one who became one.

He was an ANBU captain, the Godaime Hokage's master strategist.

But he couldn't realize what he had until she left.

Sometimes, he couldn't bear looking at the bright, never-ending blue sky.

Because they reminded him of _her _eyes.

He looked ahead as he ran for the epicenter of the explosion, deciding to lament later. But he couldn't help but cry out in frustration on the inside.

_'Why, Ino?'_

-

_'Why?'_

-

_Sometimes, even a genius like Nara Shikamaru had a silly habit._

_His was cloudgazing. _

_He would just lie down on his special spot on the grass and stare at the clouds drifting lazily by, and try to figure out if it looked more like a gorilla or a baboon. _

_But today, he had to _share.

_Shikamaru usually didn't mind sharing; it was too troublesome to fight back._

_But when he was assigned a babysitting mission, it was over the limit. After all, he had plans to go cloudgazing. But now, he needed to watch some slut fangirl. _

_Great. Just great._

_Now she was on _his _spot, saying that the clouds reminded her of one of her bags or something. _

_She was more annoying than a certain blonde he knew. At least _she _didn't cling onto his arm and giggle with an ugly falsetto like this one was doing._

_Later, when Shikamaru would cross the small meadow back into Konoha's marketplace, he would discover a tiny, salty drop of water on one of the leaves._

_For a genius, he was pretty dense not to notice it was a tear._

-

-

The four arrived at the scene at the same time.

"So everyone's here," Sasuke muttered. "What's going on?"

"One of the villagers heard a boom, and he said it was getting louder," Naruto reported, slipping his fox ANBU mask on. "Then a loud one was heard, an explosion. After that one, any noises stopped."

"Hn," Neji grunted. "Why would they send the four of us, then, to investigate something so unimportant? Chuunin, at least, could be able to do this."

"A burst of chakra was felt right before the main explosion – disturbing chakra. Morino Ibiki felt it and said it was really strong. ANBU level," Shikamaru commented, having memorized the mission scroll the second he opened it, due to his massive brainpower. "Well, let's just get this troublesome thing over with."

Careful not to let any of their chakra known to the potential threats at the explosion site, they quickly made their way to the large crater.

What they saw made them freeze, literally freeze, for a second.

"Sa…Sakura…?" Sasuke choked out.

-

-

"Sa…Sakura?"

Naruto was also surprised. Never, in his whole life, had he seen Uchiha Sasuke, the Uchiha Sasuke, fumble over one word.

But Sakura was really there, in a bloody heap, crouching.

Hinata was there too, on all fours, coughing blood.

Ino was on her knees, battered, and Tenten's arm was jutting out in a weird angle.

They looked so familiar, yet so different.

Even though all their clothes were tattered, dirty, and splotched with blood, it made them look more… womanly.

Sakura was in a sleeveless, black, zipper-up turtleneck-style top that reached up to a little above her bellybutton. Underneath was some kind of fishnet material. Black cargoes covered her legs, up to where her leg guards and battered sandals were. She had ditched the gloves she had worn when she was fifteen, and had replaced them with metal-plated fingerless gloves (black, of course.). Her short hair was matted with blood as Naruto could see her desperate attempt to crawl to her friends and try to heal them.

Ino was still dressed in a purple color scheme. A purple tube top could be seen through the slightly loose, sleeveless mesh top (Now ripped a bit at the bottom), short purple skirt with shorts underneath, and bandages (now a dark red due to blood) covering from her elbows down to her fingers. Her long blonde hair was now short, much like Sakura's.

Tenten was still dressed the most tomboyish – bloodred qipao-style top with a black dragon running up the sides and pants like the ones Sakura was wearing. (He noticed the weapons littering the barren ground and assumed it was her doing.)

Hinata was dressed less sophisticated. She wore what she wore six years ago, but her hair had grown out a bit. Tiny craters shaped like circles proved her doing one of the Hyuuga clan moves.

But who were the children that were begging them to get up?

Two were around Sakura, one boy with jet-black hair and dark green eyes. The other, a girl, had pink hair and dark obsidian eyes.

A girl was shaking Ino, tears streaming down from her dark, deep blue eyes. Her pretty, black pointy-styled hair, with various streaks of yellow in them, was matted with dust and was sticking out in various directions.

Naruto's sorrowful eyes traveled to Tenten, where a boy with light brown eyes and long, coffee-colored hair was crouching near her. His eyes were impassive, but Naruto, being an expert at reading peoples' facial expressions, saw the hidden worry and fear by the tight set of his lips.

At last… Hinata. A young boy with messy, unruly blonde hair and the palest blue eyes was calling out Hinata's name fearfully.

"Kaa-san! Kaa-san!"

Wait… kaa-san?

-

-

_'I can't lose focus…'_

"Kaa-san!" A pink-haired girl cried fearfully. "Please, wake up!"

"Aya-chan," Sakura whispered as loud as her body would permit; every time she took a breath, her ribs felt as if they were on fire. "Kago-kun. Listen carefully… About a couple of miles from here… is a village… Konoha… go there… and get… help."

"But what about you?" Aya wailed. Sakura smiled a bit. Kana was always the more emotional one.

"Don't worry about me… go, before the jutsu wears off." Sakura bit her lip to keep from hissing in pain as the sting in her stomach got more and more excruciating.

Sakura, thanks to her acute hearing, could hear her friends telling their children the same thing. _'If _we _don't survive… at least the children can.'_

"But Kaa-san –" Kago said hesitantly.

"Go!" Sakura commanded as Hinata coughed up more droplets of blood. "NOW!"

-

-

"Listen to Sakura," Hinata whispered in between coughs. "Go, Useki. Please…"

"No, kaa-san!" Useki cried stubbornly, his pale blue eyes flashing. "I _won't _leave you here!"

"Useki, please…" Hinata begged. "Please."

The blonde child bit his lip, tasting the metallic tang of the blood flowing freely from the kunai cut on his cheek.

"_Please._"

He squeezed his eyes shut and shakily got up. "I promise I'll be back," he vowed, letting the blood from his hand drip to the ground.

Hinata smiled sadly as the young 6-year old suddenly gave her the impression of _him_. "Thank you," she breathed out. "Now, go…"

-

-

"Suda-kun, go."

"No." The boy crossed his arms stubbornly as his light brown eyes narrowed. Even if he was a boy of few words, he was very adamant.

"Please," Tenten begged. "There'll be more of them coming."

"No, I'm not going to leave you here," the six-year old stated. "I'll fight them off."

"Suda, you're not strong enough!" Tenten winced as her sudden movement disturbed her broken arm. "Just… go. Konoha is close, they'll provide help."

"No."

"Suda, just please…" Tenten felt the tears coming, and she saw her son's taken aback expression; she had only cried once in front of him. The Tenten _he _knew, the strong, independent mother, was melting away as she begged her son to abandon her.

She saw the internal seesaw of emotions in her son's pale, almost pupil-less eyes before it turned into resignation. "Fine. But if anything happens to you…"

She smiled reassuringly at Suda. "Suda, do you really doubt your mother?"

His lower lip stuck out in a small pout before he turned away and ran for it.

-

-

"But kaa-san –"

"No buts," Ino said firmly. "Now go with the rest of the children. Go get help."

"Kaa-san, you can't fight them off in your state, they'll be coming back." The girl's deep, calculating eyes were glassy from tears.

"Karai-chan, just… please!" Ino cried, exasperated. "I don't want to lose you…" _'Even if I really didn't want you…'_

"Kaa-san, you're so troublesome!" Karai burst out, tears streaming down in a downpour. "Can't you just listen to me?!"

-

"_Ino, you're so troublesome. Just listen to me for once."_

-

She herself felt the tears coming up as the last word escaped her daughter's lips. "Karai… just… go…"

"You can't make me," Karai stomped her foot. "I'm going to stay here and fight."

"Karai, you can go on your own… or I'll _make _you." Ino had a bit of chakra left… one simple mind control jutsu, and…

But her daughter had turned her back on her. "Fine." Karai sniffed, knowing her mother's power. "But… don't go away, okay?"

Ino smiled in encouragement. "Never."

As her daughter sped away, her smile faltered a little.

'_You truly are… _his_ daughter.'_

-

-

Aya was scared.

Sure, she, Kago-niichan, Karai-chan, Suda, and Useki had traveled around fighting with their mothers, but they hadn't tried to fight a couple dozen enemies at once. Their mothers usually did all the fighting, occasionally letting the children fight if the opponents were easy to fight against.

"Kago-niichan," she whimpered to her big brother. Even if he was older than her by a couple of hours, he was still the older one and she the younger, more childlike one. "I'm scared. What if they…"

The sentence loomed in the dusty air, unfinished. But everyone knew what she had tried to say.

Die? 

"They won't." Kago seemed to be reassuring himself more than the rest of the gang. "They won't, they promised –"

"Hey! I see people!" Useki pointed to four figures standing a couple of yards from them.

The four tall figures seemed to be staring at them.

"Are they Konoha?" Karai asked fearfully, slowing down her pace. "They might be… one of _them_."

"Their forehead protectors, they're the ones our mothers have in their packs," Suda observed. "C'mon, let's go."

-

-

"Oi, Sasuke-teme. They're coming straight towards us."

Sasuke turned his head and saw the children he had seen with the girls. They looked surprisingly young. However, they were moving as swiftly as genin, maybe chuunin.

When they skidded to a halt about a foot from the ANBU captains, a girl with short pink hair and smoldering black eyes cried, "Please, you have to help our parents!"

He exchanged glances with Shikamaru, Naruto, and Neji. They had discussed a couple of minutes before, and Shikamaru had decided it was best if they pretended not to have seen the girls.

"After all," he had said. "We don't know if this is some sort of trap or not."

"Who are your parents?" Shikamaru asked gruffly.

Without hesitation, a black-haired female with blonde streaks spoke. "Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, and Tenten. Please, there will be more of _them _coming!"

"Them?" Neji asked. "What do you mean by _them_?"

"A whole bunch of them," a black-haired boy said darkly. "I could only hold them off for a little while, but using _it _too much drains my chakra. And kaa-san doesn't like how it looks like."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

The boy closed his eyes, and the pink-haired girl as well. "This… we only learned of it a few weeks ago, so the genjutsu doesn't really last long."

Their eyes opened, and the dark green and worried black was no longer there.

Instead, Sasuke was looking at a copy of his Sharingan from when he was 12. Pools of bloodred with two commas spun slowly in an almost enticing way as Sasuke looked straight into the depths of his bloodline limit.

_'What…? Sharingan…?'_

He heard an astonished growl from Neji and looked to the side. A messy-haired blonde with pale blue eyes and a coffee-haired boy with light brown eyes now sported veins around their now colorless, pupil-less eyes.

_'Byakugan…?'_

"We could only seal up their main chakra points," the boy with brown hair muttered almost apologetically as the blonde boy nodded vigorously. "Please… we need you help… before _they _come."

Sasuke took his astonished (even though he didn't show it) gaze from the two children and nodded to Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru.

Obviously, the girls had some explaining to do.

"Show us the way."

-

-

-

Was that a disappointment?

Sorry there wasn't any action in this chapter, I mainly focused it on what _really _happened and on introducing the children.

Now the names sound retarded, but like I said before in one of my other stories, the Japanese dictionary I use sucks.

**_Karai_** means beautiful lie, **Ts_useki_** means deep regret, **Kitai_suda_** means little hope, and both **_Aya_mari** and **_Kago_ **mean mistake – or something in those lines. Kind of derogatory for the kids, but you'll see later on why they don't really mind.

And anyone that doesn't agree with the children being girls, I'm sorry! It's just that I couldn't fathom Ino having a male child, and I had the sudden impulse to make Sakura have fraternal twins.

Oh yeah, I have a **new story**, Father Figure. Yeah, kind of early, but I did it on a whim. Stranded in a Closet and Love Me for Who I Am/Girl Shopping will come out as soon as I type them up and decide whether I'm going to call my high school story Love Me for Who I Am or Girl Shopping.

Well, 'till next time!


	3. Shock

Sorry for the late update, I got hooked on this game… again. It's called flashflashrevolution and it's so FREAKING ADDICTING. So… I decided to take someone's suggestion and reply to the reviews through review replying but I don't know… you can tell me if you prefer to have replies through PMing, or just on the chapter. Of course, I'll ALWAYS put the names of everyone who reviewed to show my gratitude because I'm just too lazy to reply to everyone.

There seemed to have been some confusion with why the guys pretended not to know the children, so I'll try to explain the best I can. Shikamaru, being blessed with his huge brainpower, decided that they should pretend that they didn't see the girls for whatever reason. I'd rather not talk more about that because that'd result in a very flustered me and confused readers.

So… thanks to **riverbreeze**, **swt.cherry.blossom**, **Mate-of-Sesshy**,** Black Ravven**, **rizeleth**, **animeluver91**, **shadow angel 101**, **Angst lover**, **Kaydreams**,** Puppyeye1**, **sakuraharuno-cherryblossom**,** cookiesxnxcream**, **Goddess Lycoris**,** NaraYingyi**, **-saku-fan-**, **XXDragonheart6XX**, **sakurauchiha12**, **animeforever24**, **tru-viet**, **-my-name-is-V-**, **berry smoothie**, **SakuraGaara**, **DiamondOasis**,** SammyFace**, **9801**, **sakura9898**, **kattylin**, **pandabear1415**, **Nikidu The Lost Wolf**, **xDiz azn ShortieXz**, **BuBbLe GuM cherry**, **InuyashaLover167**, **Dakotarox14**, **Sapphire Serenity**,** The8thSin**, **Little Minamino**, **young-love**, **furryhatlover2543**, **kittygoesmeow**, **passion244**, **crescent moon at midnight**,** SasukeandNejicuties**, **GaaraLovesSakura**, **NarutoXHinataPie**, **L.N.R.star**, **Kaze-Yume No Tenshi**, **Black Midnight Raven**, **xxlilaznchkxx**, **Tears like Crystals**, **MangaGirl427**, **Lioness Of the fire**, **my lil' cherry blossom**, **Anime Angel Goddess**, **CherryBlossoms016**, **Kurenai Chinoumi**, **loca4life**, **Kunoichi142**, **Baby Acoustic**, **reader-not-a-reviewer**, **strawberry9212**, **HeartAngel**, **reader713**, **cutegerbilofdeath**, **pinky101**, **lolsuzie**, **ninja-kyoko**, **KunoichiruleALL**, and **HPBabe91**. If I forgot anyone… sorry.

-

**R u n a w a y L o v e**

**Summary**: After a huge heartbreak, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino mysteriously disappear. A couple years later, they come back and bring a huge surprise with them – whole new personalities, abilities, and… kids? SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina

**Rating**: T (PG-13)

**Genre**: Romance/Drama

Standard Disclaimer applied.

-

**Chapter 3: Shock **

-

_Last time on Runaway Love:_

_Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"_

_The boy closed his eyes, and the pink-haired girl as well. "This… we only learned of it a few weeks ago, so the genjutsu doesn't really last long."_

_Their eyes opened, and the dark green and worried black was no longer there._

_Instead, Sasuke was looking at a copy of his Sharingan from when he was 12. Pools of bloodred with two commas spun slowly in an almost enticing way as Sasuke looked straight into the depths of his bloodline limit._

'What…? Sharingan…?' 

_He heard an astonished growl from Neji and looked to the side. A messy-haired blonde with pale blue eyes and a coffee-haired boy with light brown eyes now sported veins around their now colorless, pupil-less eyes. _

'Byakugan…?' 

"_We could only seal up their main chakra points," the boy with brown hair muttered almost apologetically as the blonde boy nodded vigorously. "Please… we need you help… before _they_ come."_

_Sasuke took his astonished (even though he didn't show it) gaze from the two children and nodded to Neji, Naruto, and Shikamaru._

_Obviously, the girls had some explaining to do._

"_Show us the way."_

-

-

-

"So…" Tenten smiled ruefully, her useless arm hanging at her side. "I guess this is the end, huh?"

Hinata spat up some blood before replying, "Yes, but now that the kids are safe, I feel much more at ease…"

Ino murmured wistfully, "You know… at first, I hated Karai… but… now… she's all I live for…"

"Yes," Sakura agreed. "But we still have a job to do." Her hazy eyes darkened with resolve. "We need to use our abilities to the fullest… for the kids. And for Konoha's sake. Even if…"

"It kills us," Hinata finished softly. "I… I understand."

"They're coming quickly," Tenten whispered quietly. "There's only a few dozen of them, but they're strong. They think they can finish us off while we're weak…"

"Let's give them a hell of a fight, then." Ino raised herself off the ground, grimacing as she felt her sore muscles fighting against movement.

Hinata wiped blood from her mouth and the veins around her pupil-less eyes grew more prominent. "I guess I'll see you guys in the afterworld."

_'I'm… sorry, Karai…' _Ino closed her bloodshot eyes. _'I guess… I won't see you after this.'_

That was when the Sound nin jumped out of the trees.

And it was also when four figures in jounin vests appeared in front of the girls in protective stances.

-

-

"Which way?" Naruto asked worriedly to Useki, who, with his now Byakugan on, was leading the way with the rest of the children.

"We're almost there… but… I don't know if they'll still be alive," Suda stated. Although he looked perfectly unperturbed, he was probably the one that was most jittery. "I could see the lie in kaa-san's eyes."

Aya started sniffling again. "Nii-chan… my eyes hurt again."

"Then deactivate it," the black-haired boy ordered. "It drains too much of our chakra… we need to conserve." He turned his Sharingan off, letting his eyes go back to his mossy green.

"There!" The black-haired girl with blue eyes pointed to a clearing. "They're…"

But Shikamaru, Sasuke, Naruto, and Neji were already racing for where they felt many chakra sources.

"Kaa-san!" the pink-haired girl shrieked, following the guys at a reasonable rate. "Please… don't die on me!"

"Stay back," Sasuke ordered, unsheathing his Kusanagi.

Aya bit her lip and fell back. "Please don't let her die…"

The Uchiha, for once, smirked gently at the worried girl. "I won't." He then ran to his friends, who were standing protectively in front of each girl and stood in front of Sakura.

"They're Sound!" Naruto sounded astonished. "Didn't you say that you killed Orochimaru before you left?"

"I did," Sasuke replied steadily although he was also confused.

"Uchiha… Sasuke…?"

He looked at the source of the voice through the corner of his bloodred eyes, Sakura. She was staring at him with an unreadable expression. He looked away, concentrating on the hordes of Sound nin pouring through the trees. "Hn. Sakura."

"Kill all of them or leave one alive for interrogation?" He heard Neji call from in front of Tenten.

"Kill all of them," Shikamaru decided in a hard voice, unmoving from his protective stance in front of Ino. "Our first priority is protecting the children and taking them back."

"Aya and Kago aren't… safe?" Sakura whispered in a faint voice. She trembled and Sasuke felt her chakra waver.

"Oh my…" A soft voice whispered.

"Hinata! Don't you dare–" Ino hissed worriedly.

_Thump._

"Faint…" Tenten finished as Hinata fell slack.

_'Shit.' _Sasuke couldn't move away from Sakura to kill more Sound nin, she was too vulnerable at the moment. "We should retreat!" Naruto shouted, creating more clones to surround the still form of Hinata.

He heard a small hiss behind him.

"Move," Sakura snarled at Sasuke, pushing him out of the way. Slightly limping, she stepped in front of him and started forming handseals.

-

-

"Move." Sakura stepped in front of the Uchiha and formed the handseals for her final move. She also felt Ino and Tenten doing the same. She closed her eyes and concentrated all her chakra to the final attack that, hopefully, would destroy the Sound nin. She could just picture their mangled bodies littering the ground…

She felt fainter. _'I can already see heaven… or hell, whichever place I'm going, it doesn't matter. As long as Aya and Kago are safe…'_

"What are they doing?!" Naruto demanded.

"They're exerting all their chakra." Neji sounded utterly confused.

"It's a suicide jutsu!" Shikamaru sounded horrified. "Stop them, now!"

_'Too late.' _She felt her life, slowly slipping from her. _'Goodbye.'_

"Sakura!" Just as she released the chakra, someone pulled her arm back, canceling the jutsu in mid-attack.

She fainted.

-

-

"It's a suicide jutsu!" Shikamaru sounded appalled. "Stop them, now!"

Neji had already poked a place on Tenten's neck that rendered her unconscious, while Shikamaru used his shadow technique to stop Ino, who, from chakra exhaustion, slumped in his arms.

Now only Sakura was left. Chakra was already emanating her in strong, tangible waves. For some reason, only the Sound nin were getting hit by the chakra. _'I've never seen this before…'_

Then the largest wave of chakra he had ever seen waved out, sending the Sound nin flying. Without thinking, he yelled her name and pulled her arm back.

Then she fell unconscious.

"Their move… killed nearly all the Sound nin," Shikamaru wondered aloud.

But the guys didn't need to worry about the rest of the Sound nin because five small children were attacking them mercilessly.

The blonde boy with pale eyes and brunette with pale brown eyes were slamming the palms of their hands ruthlessly at the Sound nin, showing an impressive feat of Jyuken use for such young children.

The pink-haired girl and dark-haired boy had both their Sharingan on, darting around quickly, evading the attacks of the attackers. They put a few under what Sasuke assumed was genjutsu and took some out by giving them third-degree burns. _'They already know Katon jutsus?'_

The blonde girl was somehow making the Sound nin kill each _other _and strangling others with her shadow at the same time. "Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu **(1)**," Shikamaru muttered in an astonished tone.

_'Just who are these children?'_

In a matter of minutes, the pink-haired girl finished off the last Sound nin with a kunai to the temple and spat on him. "I hope you rot in hell."

"Aya," the dark-haired boy said in a reproachful tone.

The pink-haired girl, Aya, cast her head downward as her shoulders shook. "They… they almost took our mothers away from us, Kago-niichan. They deserve to die."

The boy with chestnut brown hair turned to the guys and bowed. "Thank you for helping us. You can just leave our mothers here, they'll wake up soon… and Kago and Aya's mother is a really talented medic, so… thank you."

Neji raised an eyebrow at the boy's stiff formality, Tenten's still form in his arms. "You think we're going to leave you here?"

"It would be best if you did," Aya's "niichan", Kago, said gravely. "We should be moving on soon."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed as his clones disappeared. He bent down to pick up Hinata. "These girls belong in Konoha."

"It'd be best not to…" The blonde boy fretted.

"K-Kago…. Aya…"

"Kaa-san!" Aya's eyes moved toward her mother's figure. Sakura's eyes were barely open and her lips were parted slightly, as if she was having trouble breathing. "Kaa-san!" Aya cried again. "Are you okay?"

Sakura's full lips turned downward slightly. "I… told you to… run…"

Aya's brother stepped up with a defiant expression. "Well, we couldn't just abandon you."

Sakura smiled slightly before her eyes closed again.

"Kaa-san?" Aya asked in a frightened tone. "Kaa-san?"

"She's just unconscious," Sasuke stated, observing how she was breathing too much in a shallow way than a regular person would. "But they all need emergency medical care."

The five children exchanged looks for a brief moment, as if sharing their thoughts through telepathy or something. Finally, Kago stepped up, almost acting as a spokesperson for the five children. "Okay, we'll go with you… but… is it okay if Karai can see if you're really trying to help us?"

_'Karai… beautiful… lie?'_

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked warily, cautiously.

Kago nodded to the black-haired girl, who stepped forward. "It's a basic jutsu I learned that indicates if you're telling the truth or not. I just perform it, and then ask you a question and you answer. If you're lying, I could tell."

Naruto cocked his head. "Sounds simple enough."

"That's because you're simple-brained," Neji murmured, earning a glare from the Uzumaki. "But… okay."

Karai nodded, and performed some handseals and muttered something quickly under her breath. "Okay… Mister… the one with the blonde hair… why do you want to help us so badly?"

"Because you guys are hurt and we have to help you, since the girls were – are – kunoichi of Konoha." Naruto _seemed _sincere enough.

Karai's brows knitted together as she concentrated before she shook her head. "He's not lying."

"Okay then…" the chestnut-haired boy stepped forward. "We haven't properly introduced ourselves, have we? My name is Suda. The blonde over there is Hyuuga Useki, the pink-haired girl and black-haired boy over there are Haruno Aya and Kago, and the black-haired girl with yellow streaks in her hair is Yamanaka Karai."

Shikamaru nodded, impressed by the boy's formality. "Nice to meet you." He didn't bother giving his full name because he was naturally untrusting toward strangers.

"So… let's go," Neji said quietly, shifting Tenten in his arms so that her head wouldn't tip over. "Do you kids think you can follow?"

Surprisingly, everyone turned to Aya, who looked the most fragile and weak out of all the children. Aya bit her bottom lip and her dark eyes turned a shade lighter as she made a handseal and murmured, "Boho**(2)**."

"You're not going to use replenish?" Useki asked curiously. "We're almost out of chakra."

"Not you, maybe," Suda muttered and the blonde grinned goofily, despite the situation.

"Heh, Suda, you're just jealous that I have an almost unlimited chakra source!"

"Hmph." Suda turned his pale, questioning eyes on Aya, who sighed in defeat.

"Okay, okay…" Aya's brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed. "Bochoong **(3)**. Happy, Suda-niichan?"

"Hn." Suda's energy seemed to have come back to him, and the others as well. Karai stretched, showing a lithe figure for a 6-year old. "Thanks, Aya."

"What did you do?" Neji, his Byakugan still on, asked. _'It's like… their chakra was replenished.'_

"It's a part of one of kaa-san's abilities," Kago explained. "It's passed down from generation to generation, females only. Of course, I have more mastery over the Sharingan."

Aya rolled her eyes and turned to Neji. "I can't control either abilities well now. But basically, I can 'curse' or 'bless' people. I use handseals and special words to help or hurt."

"I see," Shikamaru mused, his brain working rapidly. If Sakura had an ability like this before (and if she really was Aya's mom), why didn't she use it? His mind raced as a thousand different hypothesizes revealed themselves to him. _'I can't think about that now, our first priority is to get them back to Konoha safely.'_

"OK then, are you guys ready?" Sasuke asked gruffly, speaking the first time in a while. "You don't have any stuff to bring with you?"

Karai shook her head balefully. "No, they all got destroyed when the Sound nin attacked us."

As they started running, Useki said happily, "Well, look on the bright side. Now kaa-san can't say 'no' when I ask her for a new shuriken set."

"Dobe." Kago muttered.

"Teme!" Useki retorted, sticking out his tongue.

Shikamaru opened his mouth to say his favorite word but someone beat him to it.

"Troublesome," Karai groaned. "Can you guys stop fighting over the silliest things for _once_?"

Neji raised an eyebrow but continued running.

-

-

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep… _

Ah. The soothing sound of the heart monitor. Sakura loved the sound. It meant she was in the hospital.

The hospital was like her home. She was not a stranger to the territory; she was one of the most important people of the hospital.

Sakura kept her eyes shut as she savored the sound of the beeping.

But something was wrong… she couldn't quite place it.

Then, her eyes flew open in shock and a bright, shining light disrupted her vision for a moment. The HOSPITAL?! She hadn't been to the hospital in 6 years. She sat up, ignoring the throbbing of her ribs and scanned the area. "What the…"

"OKAA-SAN!"

She frantically looked around at the sound of her children's voices, letting her eyes adjust to the bright lighting. "Aya? Kago?"

A small body barreled into her and she had to refrain from grunting in pain at the impact. The front of her hospital gown started getting wet as Aya started sobbing.

"Kaa-san, you're okay! We thought you were going to _die_!"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan. You're the last to wake up," a hoarse voice told her from next to her. Past the rough, coarse tone Sakura could hear the slightly throaty and strong voice of Tenten. "But then again, you probably used up most chakra out of all of us."

"How's Hinata and Ino?" Sakura asked quietly.

"I'm fine and dandy, Forehead Girl," came a sarcastic voice, however, Sakura could hear the relief and worry hidden in the tone. "In fact, I'm so healthy that I cracked open my head without even feeling it."

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan… but… I think we're not allowed to leave. I looked around with my Byakugan and the whole place is sealed up." Hinata sounded fatigued and immediately Sakura admonished her for using her Byakugan right after she was fatally injured.

"Hinata-chan! You shouldn't have done that, now you're probably very low on chakra." Sakura scolded. "You should've waited until I got up." After all, Sakura was the one with most knowledge of the hospital.

"I'm afraid you girls couldn't have escaped even with Sakura," a new, familiar voice said quietly, but with relief overwhelming the tone. "The hospital's been… updated since you girls left."

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura gasped joyfully at the sight of her mentor, her second mother.

Tsunade was crying. "I thought you'd never come back… and… you have such… beautiful children."

Sakura smiled contentedly as Kago squeezed her hand. "Yes… I've been blessed."

Tsunade, despite her happiness, became businesslike at once, grimacing. "Anyway… you still have to face the council for leaving without telling anyone though."

"It's all right," Hinata said softly. "We've gone through worse. We can handle anything they throw at us."

"What if they threw at you…" Tsunade whispered, as if she was afraid of anyone else listening into their conversation. "Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru?"

The room grew still except for the beeping of the heart monitor, which kept on beeping.

However, even the heart monitor grew silent for a second.

-

-

"Maybe they're Itachi's," Naruto suggested.

"Impossible," Shikamaru muttered. "The children said they were six, and Sasuke killed off his brother seven years ago, when he was sixteen."

"There couldn't have been a survivor to the Uchiha massacre, either," Neji said thoughtfully. "But… that means…"

"The only options can be me," Sasuke said perplexedly. "But Sakura and I didn't do anything to cause this."

"Uchiha-sama, Uzumaki-sama, Hyuuga-sama, Nara-sama… Hokage-sama has requested your presence during the trial." A meek looking chuunin bowed at the four.

"Aa, we'll be there," Neji dismissed the chuunin.

"I guess we're about to find out," Naruto grinned lopsidedly.

-

-

"Haruno Sakura. Yamanaka Ino. Hyuuga Hinata. Tenten. You are charged with leaving Konohagakure without notifying the council, and _almost _becoming missing-nins if it weren't for the mercy of the Godaime Hokage. Do you have anything to say in your defense?" The loud voice of the head elder boomed throughout the courtroom and Sakura, keeping a blank face, spoke for the group.

"No, we do not." Sasuke frowned at how emotionless she sounded. Her hands were clasped peacefully behind her, bound by chakra strings. However, her eyes were blank and her face revealed nothing about what she was thinking right now.

The head elder seemed almost taken aback by how much Sakura had changed. "So you will receive any punishment that we put upon you?"

This time Hinata spoke, just as quietly and gracefully as Sakura had done. "Yes, Takahashi-sama. We understand our mistakes and we will accept the consequences without any resistance."

Everyone seemed surprised when the Hyuuga stood tall and proud without fumbling over a word. She still had a softer voice than Sakura's but it was just as confident, unwavering.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji's brows furrowed when the word "mistakes" came out of her mouth. _'The only mistake they made was leaving… right?'_

Meanwhile, Naruto, being the dense idiot he was, was too busy staring at Hinata.

"What were you doing the past 6 years?" Tsunade asked, taking charge.

"What we basically did was wander around, pick up some new techniques, raise our children…" Tenten kept a perfectly cool, innocent look. But Neji knew she was lying. He just _knew _she was leaving a lot out. He wasn't her teammate for years for nothing.

"How did you survive?" Another elder questioned. "How did you earn money, find shelter, feed yourselves?"

"We stayed in villages we came across for a while, accumulating in our money," Ino said carefully, choosing out the right words to say. This surprised Shikamaru; the Ino he had known acted – and spoke – before she thought. "We'd get jobs here and there and rent places. For a couple of months, we were bounty hunters; that got us money more quickly."

"I see, so you haven't interacted with any missing-nin or mafias or anything like that?" Tsunade mused.

"No, Hokage-sama. We don't want to set a bad example for our children. That's why we gave up bounty hunting." Sakura said in an almost flat tone.

But she was hiding something. Very stealthily, but it didn't escape the sharp eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. _'She – they – are hiding something…'_

"I see," Tsunade smiled thinly. "Court on hold until noon."

The four girls stood gracefully, as if chakra strings didn't bind their hands, and stood still, waiting for their ANBU escorts.

"Uchiha. Uzumaki. Hyuuga. Nara. Please escort these ladies to their hospital beds." Tsunade ordered the four. She then turned to the council. "Come, we should hurry to a conclusion."

Immediately, Sakura tensed and Tenten said shortly, "Hokage-sama, I hope this is your idea of a joke."

The blonde woman smiled. "Only if you think of it as one."

Ino opened her mouth to retaliate, but Sakura shook her head. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Aya, Kago… come."

Tsunade nodded to the guys, who stood and strode up to the girls. Sasuke placed his right hand on her left shoulder to steer her to the door, but she shook him off.

"I'm not disabled, Uchiha. I know where I'm going."

He frowned at her choice of biting worlds as she began to walk toward the door with her children following closely after.

"Okaa-san must be really tense," Aya whispered to her big brother. "I've never seen her this… moody before."

"She's nervous," Kago murmured. "I wonder why."

Sasuke shook his head and followed Sakura out the door as his friends began herding the rest of the girls out. When he caught up to her, he spoke with a calm tone. "Tell me who the fathers of the children are."

She merely glanced at him, as if he were some annoying bug, and walked straight ahead, pointedly staring ahead of her. "I'm obliged not to tell you," she replied blandly. "Aya, Kago, don't fall behind."

"Yes, okaa-san!" Aya said dutifully, hurrying to catch up with Sakura's strides.

-

-

"The council has made a decision," Tsunade announced, silencing all. "Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and Tenten will be put on probation until the council thinks they can be trusted again. They will not be allowed to go on major missions unless their assistance is much needed. They will live with a guardian watching over them and living with them; they can live all together. As for the children, they are allowed to stay with their mothers and will be permitted to enroll in the Academy after placement testing. Any questions?"

"I have one," Sakura said. "Will I be able to work in the hospital?"

The council elders frowned and whispered among themselves until, reaching a conclusion, one of the elders stood, walked up to Tsunade, and whispered something in her ear.

"Only if one of your guardians are willing to accompany you to the hospital."

Sakura nodded wordlessly and Tenten spoke. "Who's going to be our guardians?"

The girls knew now what Tsunade meant when she said about throwing Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru at them.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru will officially watch over you but you'll be monitored by ANBU hidden from you," Tsunade answered. "You will live in the Uchiha compound, in the guest quarters. The four on probation and the four guardians will stay after to discuss the living arrangements. Court dismissed."

After everyone filed out of the room, Tsunade turned to the girls. "You should know," she told them quietly, "That things weren't – and aren't – the way they seem. Never forget that."

Something flickered in Sakura's eyes, before disappearing again.

"The children will be evaluated on their skills tomorrow morning… Speaking of the children, Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto…"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru drawled in his ever-present lazy tone although it was more alert than usual.

"I'd like you to meet your children. Uchiha, Aya and Kago."

Sasuke stared at the pink-haired girl and the dark-haired boy before turning his impenetrable gaze to Sakura, who had turned rigid and was staring with astonishment at the Godaime.

"Uzumaki, Useki."

Naruto was already gaping at the blonde-haired, pale-eyed boy. "Hinata's… and _mine_…?"

"Nara, Karai."

Shikamaru frowned as his mind raced, trying to figure out different ways he and Ino could have created the slim, dark-haired girl when he hadn't remembered…

"Hyuuga… Suda."

Neji was having a staring contest with the child version of himself, minus the faint brown eye color.

"Hokage-sama, you said you wouldn't–" Sakura whispered.

But the Hokage had already strode to the door and shut it.

Sasuke was still staring at Aya and Kago, who also stared, openmouthed, back.

"Sakura…" he managed to murmur.

But her calm, almost rough demeanor changed into a panicked one, like one of a trapped animal. Her eyes scanned the room frantically before she, with lightning speed, ran to the door, wrenched it open, and ran out.

"Wait – Sakura!" Ino shouted desperately, running after her.

Tenten bit her lip before ordering the children, "Don't follow us. The guys over here will escort you to where you will stay; we'll be back later… we need to take care of something."

"Wait – okaa-san–" But Tenten had sprinted out also.

Hinata seemed on the verge of tears. "Remember that no matter what happens, we'll still love you."

And that the confused and shocked guys to try and decipher the past and present web of confusion the girls had left behind, starting with step one – the children.

-

-

-

**(1)**Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu: Shadow Neck Bind Technique: A Nara clan technique. The user uses their shadow to form a hand which will creep up their opponents body to their neck. Once the hand reaches the neck, it will constrict in such a manner so as to strangle the opponent.

**(2)**Boho: It means protect in another language, but not Japanese. Why? It will be explained later. And NO, this language is not European. If you can identify which language, then... hehe... I'll give you a cookie. Throughout the story, this language will be called the "ancient language", or bimil. (Another word in the same language I know oh so well.)

**(3)**Bochoong: It means replenish in the same language as Boho.

Ugh, that was a mother effer to write… and I still don't think I have it the way I want it to be. I'm really really sorry if its quality a bit lower than what you expected. It took me nearly three weeks to write just this but what can I say? Writer's block is a bitch.


	4. Where'd you Go?

Children: 

Kago and Aya – Sakura's children

Useki – Hinata's child

Karai – Ino's child

Suda – Tenten's child

Chapter 4 up. Enjoy. 

-

**R u n a w a y L o v e**

**Summary**: After a huge heartbreak, Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino mysteriously disappear. A couple years later, they come back and bring a huge surprise with them – whole new personalities, abilities, and… kids[SasuSaku, NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina

**Rating**: T (PG-13)

**Genre**: Romance/Drama

Standard Disclaimer applied.

-

**Chapter 4: Where'd you Go?**

-

"_Hokage-sama, you said you wouldn't–" Sakura whispered._

_But the Hokage had already strode to the door and shut it._

_Sasuke was still staring at Aya and Kago, who also stared, openmouthed, back._

"_Sakura…" he managed to murmur. _

_But her calm, almost rough demeanor changed into a panicked one, like one of a trapped animal. Her eyes scanned the room frantically before she, with lightning speed, ran to the door, wrenched it open, and ran out. _

"_Wait – Sakura!" Ino shouted desperately, running after her._

_Tenten bit her lip before ordering the children, "Don't follow us. The guys over here will escort you to where you will stay; we'll be back later… we need to take care of something."_

"_Wait – okaa-san–" But Tenten had sprinted out also._

_Hinata seemed on the verge of tears. "Remember that no matter what happens, we'll still love you."_

_And that the confused and shocked guys to try and decipher the past and present web of confusion the girls had left behind, starting with step one – the children._

-

-

Naruto was the first to try to connect with his son. "Uh… so… what was your name again?"

"Useki," the blonde boy stammered. He looked just as confused as his supposed father was. He cocked his head and scrunched up his face. "But this guy looks to stupid too be my dad!"

Naruto was stricken by how Useki looked like him. Now that he was paying close attention, Useki's eyes would scrunch up and his mouth would turn into a lopsided frown of confusion as he raised up a hand to ruffle the back of his head.

He didn't even notice that Useki called him too stupid-looking.

"But… how?" Karai was studying Shikamaru with a critical eye, and Shikamaru was blown away by how her right hand rested on her hips and she'd stick up her chin just a bit defiantly.

Like Ino.

"Impossible," Suda murmured. "Okaa-san said that my father died."

Neji's eyes narrowed. Why would Tenten say such a thing?

Maybe… she meant… he died in her heart. The day she left.

"But… okaa-san said that you have children when you love someone," Aya protested. "This person over here–"

"Aya, don't say anything that you might regret," Kago said blandly though he looked at Sasuke with a confused fascination.

…

…

…

Awkward silence reigned.

…

…

…

"Did you love my mother?"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke had never, ever been so dumbstruck by a simple question.

"Did you love my mother?" Aya demanded quietly, her eyes burning into his.

Just like an Uchiha.

"I…"

…

…

"He didn't."

Aya looked stricken as she turned her head to see her brother smirking sardonically.

"Don't you remember, Aya? When we asked who our father was… that was the first time we saw her cry." Kago turned his stone-cold eyes to Sasuke. "We shouldn't have agreed to come here with them."

Sasuke was struck again, by how he seemed to make her cry. Even when he wasn't there.

Karai's eyes filled with tears as she turned to Shikamaru. "You didn't love okaa-san…?"

"Er – I… –" He was, for once, speechless and fumbled over his words but Karai's shrill voice stopped him.

"_Tell the truth, dammit! _You… you didn't love her… you… never did…" Karai's head drooped down, her eyes lidded. Her tiny fists clenched at the hem of her skirt.

"Calm down, Karai. There is an easy solution to all this," Suda said coolly as Kago continued staring coldly at Sasuke.

…

…

…

"Let's just leave."

…

…

…

"WHAT?!" Naruto shrieked. "But, I mean… b-but…"

"I suggest you don't do that." Neji stayed just as cool as Suda, crossing his arms defiantly and leaning on the window. It was a simple gesture but it did not fool Suda's activated Byakugan. It obviously screamed that if the kids tried to move or escape, the supposed fathers would not let them.

"Aa. Hyuuga is right," Sasuke moved with quick speed toward the door, shoving his hands into his pockets and standing nonchalantly but his body was tensed, just in case anyone made a sudden move. "Your mothers told you to stay here."

"But you never cared about them, did you?" Kago's voice had a cynical bite to it. "You never cared. You never will. Just let us go."

"Look, we can't let you go," Naruto said persistently. "It's on Tsunade-baachan, the Council, and even your mothers' orders to stay and let us assist you…–"

"Shut up." Aya was shaking with rage, and Kago shot her a worried stare. "You… just shut up… you weren't there when we asked about our fathers, were you?"

Silence.

"WERE YOU?!" Aya laughed in a quiet, hysterical way before taking a deep breath and continuing on. "You… have no idea at all… how heartbreaking it was. Our strong, independent mothers; our role models… _crying_."

More silence.

"You're really that curious?" Karai inserted quietly. "You want to know… the worst day of our lives? Here."

The dark-haired girl rapidly made handseals, her eyes illuminating unnaturally, hauntingly. Naruto made a quick defensive movement but Shikamaru placed a hand on his shoulders, his dark eyes analyzing every single move Karai made.

"Welcome to one year ago," Karai whispered hauntingly.

And all went black.

-

-

_There was a small fire burning with a couple of fish roasting on top of it._

_"I GET DIBS ON THAT ONE!"_

_"Too late, dobe." A pale hand snatched the biggest fish right before another, more tanned one._

_"Teme! Give it back!"_

_"Tch. Dobe. It's your fault you're slow." Kago took a big bite out of the fish and chewed slowly._

_Useki made a small whimpering noise, like he was being tortured by the fact that Kago had the biggest fish._

_"If I were you, I'd get the second biggest instead of sulking," Kago murmured in between bites of fish._

_Alas, Suda had already taken the second; Aya the third and Karai the fourth._

_Useki groaned. "I hate you all."_

_"Useki-kun… that's not nice." A hand ruffled his hair._

_The blonde looked up in surprise. "Okaa-san!" _

_Hinata smiled gently. "We always have more, Useki-kun. Don't be so selfish."_

_Useki's eyes drooped. "Gomen, okaa-san."_

_Hinata smiled again and offered Useki a huge chunk of cooked meat. "Sakura-chan and Tenten-chan had quite a hard time killing the animal but they did it in the end."_

_"Phew! I'll say!" Ino walked back to the little campfire carrying a giant bucket filled with fresh water from the spring nearby. "I won't need to exercise for another month because of this!"_

_"I know, right?" Sakura and Tenten emerged from another side, Tenten holding a pair of twin katanas smiling victoriously, and Sakura with some animal skins and meat slung over her shoulder. "This thing just wouldn't die, so I had to use medical ninjutsu to just put it to sleep peacefully."_

_The meal progressed in contented silence, until Karai decided to break the warm silence. "Okaa-san, how come I don't have a father?"_

_Ino froze in mid-bite. "Nani?"_

_"Me and Karai-chan were at the playground… and… we got sand thrown at us." Aya inserted softly. "We got made fun of."_

_"Because?" Sakura asked, her voice choking up._

_"Because… we didn't have a father. One of the kids – she told us… that we're losers who probably didn't have fathers," Aya whispered. "It hurt. I almost punched her…"_

_Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously. "Did you?"_

_Karai shook her head. "We… didn't want to be as bad as them… so… we just… left."_

_Suda nodded. "I have been wondering as well. Why do we always travel and move around? Why are we constantly being attacked by–"_

_"Ssh!" Tenten hissed, quieting the rowdy kids. The brunette woman looked around nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "You never know who's around."_

Neji knew that when Tenten was nervous, she always would do that.

_"Gomen, okaa-san," Suda said quietly. "We are merely curious…"_

_Suda quietly shut up and his pale eyes widened by the sight in front of him. Kago and Aya's expressions turned mortified and Karai and Useki's confused and dejected._

_Their mothers were crying._

Crying.

_Tears ran down Hinata and Ino's cheeks like a river's rapids, Sakura was quietly sobbing, Tenten was dabbing at the corners of her eyes. _

_"Okaa-san?" Aya went up to Sakura slowly, hesitantly._

_Sakura sniffled wretchedly. "I'm… so sorry, Aya-chan… Did you feel bad without a father?"_

_"N-No! That's not it…" Aya trailed off uncertainly._

_"I'm so sorry, Suda-kun…" Tenten laughed weakly. "You must be disappointed to see your mother in such a weak state." _

_Suda shook his head and embraced his mother. "No, I'm proud of you okaa-san."_

_Useki bounded up to Hinata, his face shining. "Don't worry, okaa-san! I'll never make you cry. I promise!"_

_Hinata looked up at Useki and nodded, her face slightly flushed._

Just like how she always looked at Naruto, the future Rokudaime realized miserably.

_Karai regarded her mother with analyzing eyes. "I promise… to never make you cry again, okaa-san. I promise."_

_Ino launched into a full-scale sob, hugging Karai tightly._

_Karai was crying as well. _

-

-

"Are you happy now?" Aya asked softly, her tiny fists clenched at her sides. "Were _you _the reasons why you made our mothers cry?"

Sasuke seemed frozen at the sight of Sakura's tears once again. _**'No matter what, you always break her heart,' **_a small voice in the back of his head whispered menacingly.

He told that voice to shut up.

"I'm leaving," Karai said quietly, staring straight up into Shikamaru's eyes. "I've had _enough_. I can't _stand _to see you. You ruined our whole lives. Our mothers' lives."

She pushed past Naruto and jumped out the window, deftly landing on a tree branch. Looking up coldly, she said, "Follow me and I'll slit my own throat." She held up the kunai she had stolen from Naruto's weapons pouch to her throat. "Don't you dare try to follow me."

Aya had tears in the corners of her eyes. "Wait up for me, Karai-chan." She wiped her tears and flicked them to the floor. "If you dare to even call after us, I'll make sure to blow myself up."

Kago sighed, and having no choice to follow her sister, used the ANBU captains' shock to get past them out the window. And Useki and Suda followed the others, Suda shooting an acid glare at Neji before jumping from branch to branch.

"Goodbye."

And they could only stare at the children… Karai's words floating through their heads.

_"I can't _stand _to see you. Your ruined our whole lives. Our mothers' lives."_

-

-

She stood in front of the gates, her eyes closes. Her now dried tears gave her cheeks an unnatural shine, her eyes closed and her mouth slightly parted.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Ino, Tenten, and Hinata appeared next to her.

"Sakura-chan," Hinata murmured quietly. "You overreacted."

The pink-haired woman bit her lower lip. "Gomen… I just… It was just too much…"

Tenten smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. It's bound to happen some time or another."

"Yeah," Ino smiled weakly, punching Sakura's shoulder gently. "After all, we're already in deep shit. What else can go wrong?"

…

The sudden drop in temperature made Sakura's shoulders tense. What…

Hinata's Byakugan activated, her jaw set grimly. Her hands moved into a defensive motion.

"Hinata-chan?"

Hinata relaxed. It's just them…

"Them…?"

Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke dropped from trees, landing on the ground effortlessly.

"What are you doing here?" Ino asked tonelessly. "Where are the kids?"

"They're gone," Shikamaru replied quietly, not meeting her eyes.

…

…

…

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked hoarsely. Her eyes widened the tiniest fraction, but it was an action that Neji's all-seeing Byakugan could detect.

"They're gone," Naruto echoed Shikamaru. He turned to Hinata defensively, like a wounded puppy. "We… we couldn't stop them. They… threatened to kill themselves. We tried." He looked into her eyes and flinched.

Hinata didn't seem angry at him. She regarded him with a calm horror.

He wanted her to slap him, yell at him for being such an idiot. Her calm regard for him drove him crazy. _'This isn't what she should do!!!'_

She was just too gentle, it hurt him so… much.

"No…"

Sakura slumped over, on the same bench that Sasuke had left her on. "Nonononono… this wasn't supposed to happen," she gulped for air. "None of this… was supposed to happen," she whispered.

_'They're coming.'_

Tenten chewed on her lower lip, fingering a kunai anxiously. "This can't be happening. This… no… it's too…"

"Tenten."

Her watery eyes met his milky, blank ones. How she used to adore those intense, colorless, eyes. Now… it frightened her.

"Just tell us what. What is going on?"

She laughed inwardly sardonically. He used to seem to know everything, she the one that used to ask all the questions. Now… it seemed so weird that it was the other way around.

"We have to leave," Ino said suddenly. "It's not safe here." She ignored all the males, speaking to Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten hurriedly. "Leave the kids. Let's be decoys."

"I…" Hinata whispered. "Useki…"

"We're doing this for them," Ino insisted. "They're coming. I can feel it."

Sakura clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, as if torn between two decisions.

Tenten relaxed her shoulders. "Well, we all know what to do," she said calmly, pained. "It'll keep them off our track for at least a couple more months, maybe even a year."

Wordlessly, Sakura stood from the bench, her green eyes clouded with furious determination.

"Hold it."

Morino Ibiki stood in front of the gates imposingly, his large arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Why?" Ino asked defiantly. "You don't know anything about us. We're getting the hell out of here."

The Konoha Interrogator smirked. "I've gotten my fair share of information out of kids while you were out, girls. Don't doubt me."

Something flashed in Hinata's eyes.

A silver of anger, Naruto noticed.

"Did you hurt them?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Not at all," Ibiki drawled casually. "I merely made promises to keep you safe from… _them_."

A snarl rose in Sakura's throat. "Don't be talking as if you know us so well. You have no idea how much stronger their forces have gotten."

"I know," Ibiki replied calmly. "I just thought you might want to know… that _they _are here. They should've caught up to the kids by now."

The world seemed to freeze. Hinata trembled, Sakura let out a small moan of despair, Ino's fingers had a small spasm of fear, and Tenten cursed quietly.

"You have two choices," Ibiki said in a hard voice. "Fess up and receive Konohagakure's protection and aid, or leave your children to die and keep your secrets to the grave."

-

-

"Kago-nii, where are we going?" Aya struggled to keep up with the other childrens' speed. She hated the drawback of her kekkai genkai.

Useki looked back to see Aya falling behind. "Aya-chan, you need help?"

She shook her head. "No, Useki-kun. I'm fine."

"Let Useki help you, Aya," Suda said blandly. "We don't want you hindering the group."

Aya bit her lip at the harsh comment but knew Suda was right. She let Useki effortlessly pick her up and fly through the treetops, catching up to the rest of the group in no time.

"Feel anything unusual?" Karai asked nervously to Aya and Suda.

"No," Suda replied. "There's–"

Suddenly, a kunai cut through the air and cut into Suda's back.

"Guh–!" Suda's eyes widened. _'How do they know… the blind spot…?!'_

"Suda-kun!" Aya shrieked.

They jumped down to a clearing, only to meet a few dozen leering faces.

"No…" Karai whispered. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

"There's no time to whine!" Kago ordered harshly. "We have to fight our way out of here!"

Suda got up, effectively using a Jyuken on an opponent while Karai mercilessly manipulated shadows to keep the opposing shinobi in place as Aya used the opportunities to burn them.

Kago grunted as he slid back, his left arm blocking a fierce roundhouse kick. He countered quickly, snapping his arm forward and crashing his tensed hand into the nose of the ninja that had tried to kick him. It worked. The enemy nin reeled back, clutching his bloody and broken nose and Kago quickly used a Katon.

Useki was jumping from place to place, his newly grown claws of chakra slashing without remorse, cutting deeply into enemy flesh.

However, the numbers of enemy ninja overwhelmed the children.

"_Bochoong_! **(1)**" Aya cried out, and the other children suddenly felt replenished.

However, it still wouldn't help. "Aya, don't drain yourself," Kago commanded. "We… we've lost."

"But–!" Aya's eyes widened as she fell onto her knees. She covered her mouth in horror, coughing. As she removed her hands, they saw that her hands and mouth were stained with blood. _'I've overused it…'_

"Aya-chan!" Karai cried, rushing over to the fallen girl. However, she never reached her. Chakra strings bound her wrists and ankles and she fell hopelessly into the dirt.

"It's over, kids," an enemy nin snarled, flicking blood off the cut that Useki had given him. "Just come quietly."

"Don't listen!" Karai shouted, wincing in pain as her bindings tightened and cut into her skin. "Run for it!"

"Quiet," another ninja hissed, kicking her in the abdomen harshly and she fell silent, crying in pain.

Kago's bloodred eyes flickered from what seemed to be the enemy leader to his fallen sister and friend. "I…"

The enemy smirked in satisfaction. He knew that they'd won. Master-sama would be so pleased with him…

He opened his mouth to speak, but instead, a blinding white light appeared in front of his eyes.

With a gargled cry of pain, he blew up.

The enemy ninjas panicked as the ground before them broke and rose upward.

And as the dust and pieces of rock settled back on the ruined ground, the children saw their hope.

"You did well, kids." The man said softly. "Now it's our turn."

-

-

-

death-chan is back!

-insert crickets chirping-

Um… yeah, I'm really sorry about the delays. I haven't updated in… how long… more than a month.

Really, I apologize. School and wayoftheninja have really been eating at my time, and even though my works are not really that popular, I think I need to take responsibility and finish my stories.

I'm going to write like crazy from now on and try to update at least once a month. Maybe. Once again, I apologize for all the inconvenience.

Thanks to **narutoalicefan**, **VWaterlily**,** Dolphinbreeze**,** Da Cute Snowbunny**,** anbu-kunoichi**,** o0 anime-goddess 0o**,** Why is th RUM always gone**,** animeloverxoxox, serenity uchiha**,** Honey Noelle**,** DarkenSoul92**,** sakuraxcherryxbloosom**,** CLIEKIE-THIS-LINKIE**,** -WittoKaawit-**,** Doll.Affascinante**,** NinjaNitaRamenChan**,** Aly Uzumaki**,** 123PIKACHU**,** raindrop's n' roses**,** siny**,** slavetothekeyboard**,** Sw33t.Stuff.Sakura**,** Fast Talking Dolphin**,** whitephoenix13**,** Winter Thunder**,** Sakuranata**,** Suk-fong**, **Altais**, **Kurenai no Chinoumi**,** Airashii Mochidzuki**, **hizmit12-waterlily3721**,** Firefly Lanturns**,** Rockingurworld234**,** Kanname-Chan**, **TaniHime**,** firegirl343**, **charryblossom67**, **sarahhasley**, **sakura-sasuke-together**, **my lil' cherry blossom**,** love cross to sakura sasuke**, **sasukexsakura4ev**, **TentenXIrista**, **Wingless-Crying-Angel**, **uchihagenius4.0**,** kanna01**, **Poet of the Moon**, **Darkhope**,** GlowlyInsanity**, **Mysterious CherryBlossom**, **Lady Lassa**, **Romance is Me**, **Alusy**,** NorthernLights25**, **dianalovely1995**, **93addict**, **SammyFace**, **xo M i M i**, **Depressing Truths**, **The8thSin**, **Freddy and Cherries Garcia**, **XXDragonheart6XX**,** kanker soar**,** Ophalina**,** asianangelgirl**, **CalwynN.D.Forever**, **SakuraGaara**, **MoonlitRain16**,** rizeleth**, **sakura4594**, **ItaSaku29**, **mak0-ch1**, **VioletIris**, **purpleeyednekoyoukai**,** pinky101**, **SweetKisses9**, **meloveneji14**, **young-love**, **DiamondOasis**, **lolsuzie**, **Mei fa-chan**, **Little Minamino**, **Mate-of-Sesshy**, **Kawaii IceCream**, **Baby Acoustic**, **ninja-kyoko**, **Kaze-Yume No Tenshi**, **obliviously**,** FrozenNight**,** kinimarubloodsuckeryaoi**,** furryhatlover2543**, **rikku92**, **Kaydreams**, **xXstardust401Xx**,** when.my.eyes.meet.yours.**,** tru-viet**, **RawrRemy**,** Aishiteru Neji**, **St.Rivenj27**, **Tears like Crystals**,** co0kIeS-n-CrEAm**, **-my-name-is-V-**, **Ruffle**, **Hakumei.xo**,** HPBabe91**,and** kittygoesmeow **for reviewing for chapter 3. Seriously guys. **106 reviews!!** That's a new record.

And for those who guessed Korean for the bimil language, you guys deserve cyber uber cookies. And for those who guessed wrong, you get cyber cookies anyways because you guys have enlightened me with your reviews.

Until then!


End file.
